• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sees "a bunch of potential headwinds" facing AI in the US.
• "AI is not very popular," he said.
• Altman said the political headwinds are some of the vulnerabilities he sees for the US in the AI race.

AI is going through some things, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said.

"AI is not very popular in the US right now," Altman said on Tuesday during an appearance at BlackRock's US Infrastructure Summit in Washington, D.C.

Altman, who has previously spoken about how AI is becoming a convenient boogeyman, ticked through the list of issues facing the industry that could slow down AI adoption.

"Data centers are getting blamed for electricity price hikes. Almost every company that does layoffs is blaming AI, whether or not it really is about AI," he said. "There's this real debate about the relative power between governments and companies going on."

Recent polling shows Altman is right to be concerned about what he said were "a bunch of potential headwinds" facing AI.

A recent NBC News poll found that 57% of voters said the risks of AI outweigh the benefits. Respondents had less favorable views of AI than a long list of notable public figures and organizations, including President Donald Trump and former Vice President Kamala Harris. A Pew Research Center survey found that 50% of US adults said they were "more concerned than excited" about the increased use of AI — that's up 13 percentage points since 2021.

Altman and OpenAI may have exacerbated tensions by signing a rushed deal with the Pentagon after the Defense Department moved to effectively blacklist rival Anthropic. Altman alluded to the tension when talking about the debate concerning "relative power." He has said that while AI companies play a pivotal role in ensuring the proper use of their technology, governments ultimately need to be able to depend on them.

The political headwinds are one vulnerability the US faces in the AI race, Alman said. He said the US leads the global AI race over China, but victory is far from assured. The OpenAI CEO said the US still needs to navigate issues with the global supply chain and to ensure that AI adoption moves quickly.

"If we don't move as quickly as other countries on economic adoption of this, then I think we will lose the advantage that we have from being the economic powerhouse that we are," he said. "And this is about how quickly companies adopt it. This is about how quickly our scientists adopt this, how quickly our government adopts it."

If the US moves quickly enough, Altman said AI will offer an almost unprecedented chance to change the world.

"I think this is a once in many generation opportunity to really improve the economy," he said, "really rewrite some of the rules of society that aren't working in light of this new incredible wealth fountain we have."